Robert Joseph Ward
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert Joseph Ward was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1949. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1926–2003
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1972
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Harvard College 1945 · Harvard Law School 1949
- Succeeded
- Frederick van Pelt Bryan
- Succeeded by
- Loretta A. Preska
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Southern District of New York succeeded Frederick van Pelt Bryan | Nixon (R) | Voice vote |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.
Confirmation vote
Voice vote
The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.
Education
| Harvard College | B.S. | 1945 |
| Harvard Law School | LL.B. | 1949 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Ward was assigned 605 district-court cases (1981–2003). Median time from filing to termination: 651 days across 605 closed cases.
Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.
In our data, Ward authored 299 published opinions for the court (1924–2002). Most cited: Nelson v. Smith (579 citations).
A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Recent & notable rulings
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Nelson v. Smith | 618 F. Supp. 1186 | 579 |
| 1994 | DeLuca v. Lord | 858 F. Supp. 1330 | 141 |
| 1996 | Marisol A. by Next Friend Forbes v. Giuliani | 929 F. Supp. 662 | 117 |
| 1981 | Savino v. EF Hutton & Co., Inc. | 507 F. Supp. 1225 | 102 |
| 1995 | Jermosen v. Coughlin | 877 F. Supp. 864 | 73 |
| 1988 | Walker v. Hood | 679 F. Supp. 372 | 71 |
| 1982 | Gibbons v. Udaras Na Gaeltachta | 549 F. Supp. 1094 | 71 |
| 1981 | Morabito v. Blum | 528 F. Supp. 252 | 70 |
| 2000 | Marisol A. Ex Rel. Forbes v. Giuliani | 111 F. Supp. 2d 381 | 67 |
| 1990 | Griffin v. McNiff | 744 F. Supp. 1237 | 62 |
| 1980 | Vassallo v. Niedermeyer | 495 F. Supp. 757 | 56 |
| 1985 | United States v. Reed | 601 F. Supp. 685 | 53 |
| 1981 | Lambda Electronics Corp v. Lambda Technology, Inc. | 515 F. Supp. 915 | 52 |
| 1994 | Banque Arabe Et Internationale D'Investissement v. Maryland National Bank | 850 F. Supp. 1199 | 51 |
| 1988 | Azby Brokerage, Inc. v. Allstate Insurance | 681 F. Supp. 1084 | 51 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 299 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.
Questions & answers
- Who appointed Robert Joseph Ward?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed Robert Joseph Ward to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1972.
- Was Robert Joseph Ward appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Robert Joseph Ward was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Robert Joseph Ward's confirmation vote?
- Robert Joseph Ward was confirmed by voice vote on October 12, 1972. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Robert Joseph Ward on?
- Robert Joseph Ward was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
30 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).